Renfrewshire Council

As we approach the end of another busy year, I would like to thank every one of you for your hard work and commitment. Our people are at the heart of everything we do and your dedication to your roles, each other, and the communities we serve has helped make this another successful year for Renfrewshire Council.

Year in review

The year began when our fostering and adoption team received a positive inspection report for the invaluable work they do to support children and young people who need to enter care for their own safety and wellbeing.

We launched our Supporting Menopause policy in March. Developed in partnership with colleagues and supported by trade unions, our approach aims to nurture an inclusive culture where our employees are comfortable talking about menopause and feel reassured that we're here to help. 

Johnstone High School was one of the first secondary schools in Scotland to get a Gold ambassador award for its work to equally promote vocational and academic career routes, enhancing the positive destinations available to our young people.

Together, Renfrewshire has gifted 100,000 books to children under 5 through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library programme, supporting them to develop a love of reading at an early age.

We continue to support business growth across Renfrewshire, with this year seeing our third Start-Up Street enterprise centre open. The Renfrew facility joins established hubs in Johnstone and Paisley, providing workspace and wraparound support to new companies.

At AMIDS, Scotland's home of manufacturing innovation, two major innovation centres, the CPI Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), operated by University of Strathclyde, are both up and running, leading on projects and skills development which support innovation in manufacturing practice and process.

Place projects are underway right across Renfrewshire, helping to invest in and support communities to shape the places that matter most to them. This includes a new vision for Johnstone town centre being developed and progress on delivery of the community led place planning for Ferguslie Park.

With £1.2million spent on 50 projects that local communities suggested would make a difference to their local area, our award winning #YouDecide campaign continues to be an exemplar of community engagement in action.

Our investment in play parks will reach £5million by 2026, with renovations taking place at 25 play parks across Renfrewshire since 2021.

In September we appointed a new Director of Children's Services, Janie O'Neill, who joins us from North Lanarkshire Council, and brings a wide range of experience from the classroom to Chief Officer. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Janie and look forward to working together.

Paisley Town Hall's transformation into one of the finest entertainment venues in Scotland was completed in October, just in time for the opening of the Royal National Mod. The week-long celebration of Gaelic language, sports, art, and culture was a huge success and saw approximately 8,000 visitors gather in Paisley, generating over £2 million for the local economy.

The Paisley Halloween Festival brought tens of thousands of people into the town centre, with the award-winning event growing to be one of the biggest and best of its kind in the UK.

And finally, as part of our major investment in our venues and a wider push to use culture and heritage to drive the town's regeneration and give people new reasons to visit the town centre, the £7million Paisley Central Library opened its doors at the beginning of this month.

It's been quite the year and we've received some great stories of colleagues going the extra mile and making a real difference to the lives of others since we opened nominations for examples of colleagues living our values. We want to hear stories of colleagues or teams who regularly show what it means to be fair, helpful, collaborative, or that they value learning. To find out more, nominate and read some great examples of our colleagues living our values click here.

While many of us will be spending time with friends and family over the festive period, I would particularly like to thank our teams who will be continuing to provide 24/7 services over the coming weeks, working in care homes, responding to emergencies, and gritting the streets. On behalf of myself, the Corporate Management Team, and our communities, thank you, and I hope you get some well-deserved time off soon.

Due to a variety of reasons, including the cold weather and cost of living crisis, this time of year can be overwhelming for some, and I would encourage you all to support your local community and be a good neighbour. Whether that's checking in on elderly friends, neighbours, or relatives, or using the grit bins located across Renfrewshire, to keep your paths and neighbourhoods safe, we can all play our part.

I hope you and your families all have a peaceful and happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Alan

Published Thursday 21 December 2023